Valiant offers uncomplicated coverage for your client’s complicated multi-state work comp exposures
Risks that have multi-state work comp exposures can pose an interesting and complex issue for retail brokers and their clients. Each state has its own unique set of requirements for obtaining and maintaining workers’ compensation insurance, and many brokers simply aren’t knowledgeable about work comp requirements in multiple states.
First, all states require that out-of-state insureds obtain coverage in the state(s) where their employees work, either from that state’s own fund or from an admitted private carrier authorized and filed to write in that state. States also vary as to how long an out-of-state employee can work in the insured’s domiciled state before the employer is required to procure workers compensation coverage.
It’s not uncommon for an agency to make the mistake of not analyzing the extent of a client’s operations or assuming that the client is hiring workers from their domiciled (home) state when, in actuality, workers are being hired in other states. It’s important to ask specific questions regarding the geographical scope of operations and the nature of the workforce that your prospective client employs.
Furthermore, there can be confusion with “other states’ insurance” (part three of the Workers’ Compensation policy). This section dictates how the workers’ compensation policy from the insured’s domiciled state would respond when an employee is injured in another state. This section of the policy is expressly intended to cover employees in states where the company does not have an ongoing operation (or plan to have an ongoing operation during the policy year). To solve these issues, it’s best for the insured to procure coverage for each state where they have an ongoing operation.
Finding one carrier to write multi-state work comp exposures is not an easy task. Many times, a broker will locate coverage for the state where the insured has their main operation, and then have to find several different carriers to write the other states, either through their state fund or a private carrier.
This is laborious search; plus, the insured will have separate billing for each state, an added responsibility to keep track of several policies, different claims divisions, and so forth.
Valiant Insurance Services has carriers that cover multi-state work comp exposures, typically issuing them all under one policy number with one bill and one point of contact (there are exceptions occasionally). This relieves our producers of having in-depth knowledge of each state’s laws and the optimum coverage that may be necessary to accommodate each state where the company conducts its business.
If you have a risk that you know has multi-state exposures, please feel free to reach out and contact us and we will work hard to find a solution.
